Kingdom Chat Week #26: Bridging The Divide With The Gospel Of Peace
…and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. (Ephesians 6:15)
So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what good life you live because you belong to Christ.(1Peter 14b-15)
The back drop of recent events in the United States Supreme Court regarding Laws governing abortion rights and another ruling on the right to free speech and religious practice, have ignited intense debates in the public sphere with different sides of dividing opinion. While these are landmark events, it also calls for sober reflection amongst us as people of faith to remind ourselves of the core of our creed – love out of a pure conscience. Though these legislations sound good in maintaining the moral fabric of the society, unfortunately, Salvation cannot be legislated. The law is not the cure for sin, rather it is in fact, the elixir of sin according to the bible(Romans 4:15). The more the law, the more the sin. Just because there is a law against abortion does not exempt even the conservatives from carrying out abortion if given the opportunity. The law may provide punishment for sin but cannot take sins away.
As believers our approach must not be that of disrespect or even political oppression/suppression of seeming opponents. (This is not to encourage complacency about political issues, absolutely not! We cannot afford to allow evil people to rule over us else, the people will mourn). Instead, our Kingdom is a Spiritual Kingdom that is spread through the Gospel of peace and we must do our possible best to remove barriers to the spread of the Gospel.
Paul states in Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”. It is only the gospel that has the transforming capacity to save a human soul from Sin. No amount of legislation will do this. While these laws in different countries may sound like victory to the faith communities, we should not rest on our oars and forget our primary responsibility. We must shod our feet with the Gospel of Peace (reconciling men to God) being ready to share our faith in a gentle and respectable way, bridging every divide as much as possible. Salvation is not enforced by human laws but endowed by the power of God through the preaching of the Gospel. This is how we effectively transmit and transfer the life of God to impact our world, and take over territories in people’s heart for God’s Kingdom, empowering them to live above sin. Against such, there is no law because they do the law by nature.
Discussion:
What barriers or challenges have you faced in sharing the Gospel recently and what ways have you tried to overcome them?
I look forward to hearing your comments below. Cheers!
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